In brief

GEM is an international forum where organisations and people come together to develop, use and share tools and resources for transparent assessment of earthquake risk. Discover GEM, the people and organisations driving the GEM Foundation, and learn how you can use the data, resources and tools as input to improved understanding, assessment and management of risk.

In brief

'Working together to assess risk' is our motto. We do this through international scientific consortia developing global best practice, datasets and tools, as well as through regional partnerships in all continents, collaborative projects, open-source software development, rigorous testing and knowledge sharing.

In brief

Transparency, credibility and collaboration are core values of GEM. Sharing as much possible as early as possible is key to that. In this section you can explore the different types of resources available for you to use, to share with others, or to promote GEM with.

In brief

Join GEM. Only by putting our expertise and data together can we increase resilience to earthquakes. There are many ways you or your organisation can get involved, from becoming a participant in the effort to sharing your expertise and data.

Finances

Transparency is one of GEM’s key characteristics. We are not only keen on being as transparent as possible for what concerns the processes around development of databases and models, and review of those, but just as much about how we organise ourselves and the finances.

Funding

Most funding comes from the public and private organisations that have become participants (sponsors) in the GEM Foundation and is used for GEM's overall budget, allocated to activities as needed.

Other funding – in particular for projects and activities in regions around the globe – comes from international organisations and companies, and is usually targeted to a specific project or goal. Our modus operandi in the regions is that of providing seed-money for project development, knowledge sharing and capcity building, and work with partners to find external sponsors to fund collaborative technical or application projects.

GEM also benefits from partnerships with regional projects that are externally managed and funded, such as EMME in the Middle East, and works to create partnerships that result in mutual benefits: technology transfer and support for hazard/risk assessment from GEM's side, and sharing of knowledge, data, models from the partner's side.

The GEM Foundation receives occasional contributions, either in-kind or financial from non-profit organisations, collaborating institutes and others, and is always interested in developing into win-win collaborations to advance seismic risk assessment worldwide and sustain the foundation at the same time.

Working Programme I

Expenditure

GEM's activities can be divided into 6 core areas: scientific acitivities, regional activities, software development, governance and management, administration and facilities, outreach and communication. This graph shows how much has been spent on each of these 6 areas over the course of the first Working Programme. A total of €25 Million was used to fund collaborative development of tools and resources for worldwide risk assessment and international exchange of knowledge and science. Roughly €20 Million was directly spent and managed by the GEM Foundation, of which €1,5 Million was invested in regional activities (workshops, capacity building, seed money, assesment/modelling support, knowledge exchange, project and partnership development). The €5,4 Million of the second bar are external funds allocated to GEM partners managing regional projects, such as EMME in the Middle East.

Income

During the 2009-2013 phase, the GEM Foundation received €5,6 Million Euro from 14 public participants and €14 Million Euro from 11 private participants. In-kind contributions, not incorporated here, have exceeded €10 Million thanks to the commitment of many scientists and organisations that have invested an enourmous amount of energy in GEM.

Budget and challenges

The GEM Foundation operates on a modest budget. For Working Programme II a rough budget is foreseen of 15 Million Euro. This consitutes a minimum for working effectively and investing enough in the OpenQuake Platform and its user community, our technical and applied activities worldwide (in the regions) and - to a lesser extent - enhancing the resources by means of (incorporating) new science.

With more money we can do more and be more effective in collaboratively working on better managament and mitigitation of earthquake risk. We could for example..

get more people to work on the platform, to enhance its features and increase user friendlyness

have more funds available to invest directly in regions for technical collaboration

have more funds available to invest directly in projects aimed at application of tools and resources for disaster risk management

intensify or extend scientific activities by supporting experts to fill the gaps

provide more attention to risk communicating and understanding of earthquake risk (assessment)

IN BRIEF

GEM is currently funded by public and private organisations, who decide
to become a participant in the GEM Foundation. Once the first version of
the OpenQuake platform the effort will be sustained in addition by paid
use of the platform, in particular in for-profit contexts, and by
offering additional resources and services.

Featured

Gem Achievements And Vision

The GEM Foundation presented in July 2013 its achievements to date, and its vision for global earthquake risk assessment and a sustainable future for GEM. Share with stakeholders worldwide and provide us with feedback.